Stressbusting, Russian Style

By Edward Tenner

Extreme heat and cold, murderous wars, rampant corruption -- how have those Russians managed over the centuries? Western media present little positive news about the country, and it fares poorly in international happiness rankings, somewhere between Pakistan and Iraq near the end of the list.

On the other hand, people who survived everything from the Mongol empire to the Gulag must have something going for them inwardly. And there's more to it than the vodka. Recent studies at the University of Michigan suggests they have some mental techniques worth emulating, according to this release:

In one study, the researchers examined the prevalence of
self-reflection and depression among 85 U.S. students and 83 Russian
students. Participants completed tests designed to measure their levels
of brooding, and their level of depressive symptoms. The researchers
found that Russians were more likely to brood, but that doing so was
associated with fewer depressive symptoms than the Americans.

In
the second study, 86 U.S. and 76 Russian students were asked to recall
and analyze their "deepest thoughts and feelings" about a recent
unpleasant interpersonal experience. The researchers measured their
level of distress after this exercise. Then participants were asked to
indicate the extent to which they adopted a self-immersed perspective
(seeing the event replay through their own eyes as if they were right
there) versus a self-distanced perspective (watching the event unfold as
an observer, in which they could see themselves from afar) while
analyzing their feelings.

Compared to the Americans, the Russians
showed less distress after recalling the experience, and were less
likely to blame the other person in their analysis of the experience.
Importantly, Russians also indicated that they were more likely than
Americans to spontaneously distance themselves from their experience
while analyzing their feelings. And this tendency to self-distance was
linked with lower levels of distress and blame.